Moog MF-104M Analog Delay Pedal Review

To borrow a sentiment from Mel
Brooks’ famous quote about sex and
pizza, there are good delays, and there
are bad delays—but they are all pretty
good. Almost any delay has endearing,
useful quirks and a place somewhere in
the musical universe—regardless of cost.
Occasionally, though, a stompbox like the
Moog MF-104M Analog Delay comes
along that truly stands apart in this very
crowded field.

That Moog would deliver a delay with
a little something is no surprise to anyone
with even a passing knowledge of their
science-project-looking pedals full of knobs,
buttons, and sliders with technical-sounding
labels. In 2002, shortly after Robert
Moog reacquired rights to the brand name
from Norlin, he set up shop in Asheville,
North Carolina. Quality control in the latter
years of the Norlin was spotty at best,
so low volume and high quality became a
focus of the new Moog Music. The company
started out humbly—making theremins,
just like the Moog of old. But effects
boxes based on Moog synthesizer functions
followed soon thereafter. Moog chose the
name Moogerfooger for the line, and the
product family—which now includes ring
modulators, low-pass filters, phasers, and
variable-control oscillators—is now coveted
by the most demanding guitar alchemists
and studio hounds in the world. The new
MF-104M, which unites echo and modulation
circuits, is a powerful unit that’s
unlikely to let any of those folks down.

Pedalboard Presence
As pedalboards grow in size, it’s not unreasonable
to think of them as little modular
synth systems between our guitar and
amp. And while the MF-104M (and other
Moogerfooger pedals) may look more
intimidating than your average delay or
phaser, it’s a very smart marriage of the
stompbox platform and the considerable
sound-shaping power of classic analog
synths.

Considering how much this pedal does,
the MF-104M’s front panel is very straightforward.
The left side is the delay section,
and the right is for modulation. Down the
middle, you’ll see controls for drive, output
level, and mix. The -7 to +28 dB drive
control is really handy—it can add grit or
low-fi tones to dirty up your signal in the
manner of tape echo. And, used on its own
with the effect controls at zero, it’s actually
a pretty great preamp.

Like all Moogerfoogers, the MF-104M is a
beautiful—and beautifully built—piece of gear.
The hardwood sides and high-quality switchwork
are all classically Moog, making the
MF-104M as much heirloom as stompbox.

Elegant Echoes
Sonically speaking, the delay section is
everything you’d expect from a Moog product.
Echoes are rich, organic, and not at
all harsh. Along with the typical time and
feedback controls, a switch toggles between
short (40–400 ms) and long (80–800 ms)
modes. There’s a touch of high-end roll off
when you switch to the longer delays—presumably
because of a bandwidth change—but with the 80–400ms overlap between
modes, you can switch between a brighter
or darker version of the same delay over a
very wide range of repeat times.

One of the things that makes the
MF-104M so special is a very powerful and
unique modulation section. Other modulation
delays allow you to dial in flanging,
chorus, vibrato, or combinations of the three.
The MF-104M can, of course, do these
things, but it also lets you choose six different
waveforms in the LFO section—sine,
triangle, square, saw, reverse saw, and sample
and hold. Rather than just adding some warble
to the echo, this allows the user to dial in
bell-like chimes, octave jumps, downward or
upward pitch shifts, and that random “we’re
in a computer lab now” sample and hold
effect that’s a staple of sci-fi shtick. I had great
luck with this function by sustaining a note
with an EBow while letting the sample and
hold do the work.

Combining the delay and modulation
sections generates galaxies of unique, unusual,
gently bubbling tones and subtle shimmering
sounds that are very effective even in
small measures. But it takes just a few dial
tweaks to make things straight-up bonkers.
Been longing for an echo that repeatedly
cascades downward? Delays that blend with
ping-ponging tonal intervals? A slapback that
swoops around before collapsing in a wash of
feedback? If these excellent echo mutations
are your cup of tea, you are in luck.

With so much going on with the front
panel, I’m guessing the feedback insert on
the back panel is going to be an underutilized
feature, but it’s worth exploring in
depth. With an R/T/S cable, one or more
effects can be inserted after the delay—but
before the feedback control. The results
you can get when you insert a fuzzbox,
a flanger, or another echo are both innumerable
and positively mind melting. But
they’re potentially invaluable to a deep
sonic explorer, and it adds a layer of possibilities
on top of an already overflowing cup
of sound-shaping power. I had a lot of fun
with a slow volume and a Colorsound Wah
inserted in the loop.

The back panel is also home to expression-pedal inserts for feedback, time, LFO
rate, LFO amount, and mix. While it might
seem like madness to have five rocker pedals
at your feet just for one stompbox, the
ability to control all sorts of parameters
in real time pretty much guarantees that
enthusiastic users won’t see daylight for at
least a week. These parameters, and others,
can be control via MIDI, as well.

Along with the new modulation section,
what sets the MF-104M apart from its predecessors,
the MF-104 and MF-104Z, is its
tap-tempo switch. Many players now find
this feature indispensible for synching and
other on-the-fly effects, but the MF-104M’s
can also be pressed and held for a second in
order to function as a rate-tempo switch for
the modulation.

Ratings

Pros:
One of the finest analog delays on the market. Modulation
section and tweakability facilitate limitless tonal possibilities.

Cons:
Pedalboard-hogging footprint. Costs as much as three or
four simpler, quality delays.

The trails mode is another wonderful
addition from Moog’s “Unexpectedly Useful
Switching Department.” Many delays let
you choose between stopping delays cold or
having them trail off when the bypass switch
is engaged, but the MF-104M allows you
to choose between the two every time you
deactivate the effect by pressing and holding
the switch for one second. That means that if
you want your echoes to linger over one part
of a song and turn off instantly in another,
you don’t have to open up the box and mess
with DIP switches or enter some cryptic programming
mode. Conveniently, each mode is
indicated by a different color LED.

The Verdict
The Moog name has long been associated
with wild sonic experimentation and otherworldly
sounds, and this box delivers those
goods in quantities that are impressive by
any standard. In fact, it’s not outlandish to
go as far as saying that sounds never heard
before lurk within this thing.

A tool this capable, imaginatively
designed, and well built comes at a price of
course. At almost $700, the MF-104M will
cause few to say it’s a bargain. But when you
consider that it’s nearly a musical instrument
by itself, the price tag seems a lot
more reasonable. This is the kind of effect
and production tool that can transform
and define whole records. Its considerable
size can make a Big Muff seem compact,
and as soon as you start adding expression
pedals, you no longer have a stompbox, but
something that would probably qualify as a
system. In this sense, it’s probably best suited
for players who prefer to get a lot done by
extracting the most from very few pieces,
rather than the inverse. I can definitely see
this being a welcome addition to any studio—home or professional.

Like any great Moog product, the
MF-104M’s limitless possibilities lend themselves
to happy accidents and experimentation.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not stage
ready. Though it would be a shame to bring
this beauty home from a short tour caked
in beer and mud, with so many control
options, such an intuitive layout, and such
rock-solid construction quality, it might just
be too good to leave behind. My guess is
Moog is just fine with that.

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